Steelworks office jobs at risk as roles set for India

AROUND 70 staff at Port Talbot steelworks are at risk of losing their jobs as workers have been told their roles are being transferred to India.

Tata Steel has entered into consultations with the affected members of staff, who work in a variety of back-office operations such as invoice processing and data inputting.

The company said that it would look to offer all those whose jobs are affected alternative employment opportunities within the group.

The news comes just a day after the Indian steel giant announced a £30m investment in the plant.

The approximately 70 roles are being transferred to another company within the group, Tata Consultancy Services, which carries out IT services operations, mostly in India.

Combined with the investments announced this week, it is being presented as part of a strategy to make the company’s UK operations more sustainable.

A Tata Steel spokesman said: “We are working hard to transform the UK business and develop a sustainable future here. We are making a number of investments to support that transformation, helping to strengthen reliability and allow the development and production of high-performing steels demanded by customers.

“We are also striving to improve productivity. We are currently consulting about 70 employees in some back-office functions to transfer administrative tasks, such as invoice processing and data inputting, to a third-party company.

“We will endeavour to offer every affected employee an alternative role within the company.”

The investment announced on Wednesday is for a replacement 500-tonne vessel at the Port Talbot works and is one of several investments the company said it would be making at its UK sites.